Ask Patty is Featured in Colorado Springs Gazette

Women flat-out decide, or in some way, influence most of the car
and truck purchases in the United States - more than 80 percent,
according to some estimates.

But talk to women candidly about their auto-buying
experience, and you’ll find that many aren’t thrilled with the
experience in showrooms.

Women still report being asked, “When are you going to bring
your husband in? When are you going to bring your dad in?” and similar
disrespectful questions, said Fara Warner, author of the 2005 book
“Power of the Purse.”

So what’s a male-dominated industry like the car business to do?

Enter AskPatty.com,
started by a couple of entrepreneurs who thought they could make some money straightening out the problem.

Data from J.D. Power and Associates show that the situation isn’t as
bad as some anecdotes suggest. Men pay a little more for their new
vehicles than women, and women are a little less satisfied than men
with the maintenance and repair process at dealerships.

Many dealerships have already installed child-friendly
areas, with toys and child videos, and dealerships report doing their
best to attract female salespeople and to treat all customers with
respect.

But AskPatty.com, a New York-based Web site, aims to go a
step further and help improve the communication between female
customers and auto sellers.

The site educates women about all things automotive, with a
staff of female automotive experts who write articles and answer
questions on repair, maintenance and car buying.

AskPatty.com also provides a unique service: certifying
dealerships as female-friendly after they’ve passed a course on how to
communicate with women, which continues to pose a challenge to many
salesmen.

Forty-nine percent of the nation’s dealerships don’t have
even one female salesperson, according to a 2006 survey by the National
Auto Dealers Association. The number of women selling cars and trucks
in showrooms declined this year — to about 8 percent of the 231,400
auto salespeople nationwide.

“I’m not a screaming feminist waving my finger at auto
dealers,” said Jody DeVere, president of AskPatty.com. “I’m a
businessperson, and I saw an opportunity.”

To be certified, members of a dealership’s sales team must
read a book on how to communicate with women, titled “How to Get Rich
Selling Cars and Trucks to Women,” and take a training course. Then
they must pass a 134-question test, which takes about an hour to
complete.

“We’re teaching them how to attract, sell and increase
loyalty with women,” said DeVere, who has two male partners in the
AskPatty.com enterprise.

AskPatty.com gets about 20,000 visitors each month. About 50
dealerships have signed on for certification services. Dealerships pay
$225 per person for 12 months of training and $795 a month for the
dealership certification.

Steve Rajnert, 32, the Internet sales leader at Dorian Ford
in Clinton Township, Mich., took the initiative to get his dealership
certified.

“They’ve actually given us a lot of information on selling
to women,” he said. “Women are doing a lot of the purchasing on their
own. ... Sometimes the women don’t feel comfortable. This trains us on
how to communicate a lot better.”

Rajnert confesses that he has changed the way he sells to
women, and it also has improved his personal relationships, as a
result.